STUFF

Study: Geese learn to avoid wind farms.

3D printers for $500?!

Mutations in Fukushima-area butterflies.

Scientist says covering reservoirs with layer of palm/coconut oil would reduce evaporation up to 75%. Oil would be ~molecule thick. Gallon would cover 2 sq miles. Interior Dept Bureau of Reclamation tried it in '50's and '60's but wind blew oil "skin" off Okla lake. Scientist says what the heck, replace it if the wind blows it off. And DOI used a different oil. Evap volume about equal to water use.

USGS: US could add 32B bls of oil, 290TCF of NG to onshore reserves. Doubling oil.

Fisker Auto, troubled luxury EV maker, hired former Volt project head as CEO.

17-year-old's invention could streamline school buses. He was taking aerodynamics course at Northwestern U. 5 yrs ago when he got the idea. Why stop at school buses?

Vestas laying off US workers at Pueblo plant in absence of wind tax credit renewal.

State insurance officials embracing climate provisions in new US flood law.

Study confirms climate model predictions of more severe droughts in US.

Clean Energy Patent Growth Index hit new record - 694 US patents issued - in 1Q12, topping previous Q's record. Toyota had most - 49 - mostly in fuel cells. US led all countries, then Japan, then Germany. Index includes (not clean E) biomass and biofuels patents. Solar topped index with 188 patents.

NY Power Auth approved 2-yr, $5.6M for further refurbishment of Niagra Power Project's 240MW pumped storage plant. Total refurb to cost $460M over 10 yrs. 1 of 2 such facilitiess in state, the other 1.1GW.

Suzlon Energy, India's largest wind turbine maker, may cut jobs, sell bonds after $153M loss in last Q. Lost money last 3 years. Global supply glut has driven prices down 23% since '09. Lack of working capital constraining their ability to meet orders.

Renewable E Corp ASA, a solar energy group, to stop funding it's Norwegian solar wafer division. Plans to file insolvency for the unit after shutting down production. $203M in red.

India PM says every household to have el in 5 years. And el supply will be improved.

Renewable E Group (REGI) Q revs up 39% yoy. Profit up 3% to $26.5M. Production rose 30% to 43M gal, sales rose 63% to 54M gal. They make biodiesel. Avg price $5.03/gal, down from $5.91 last year.

Govs of NC, Ark, MD, Del requested waivers of Renewable Fuel Std in light of drought.

Central MN Ethanol Co-op suspended production @ 21.5M gal plant because of corn price and unavailability. Hopes to re-start in Oct after new crop is harvested.

Global Industry Analysts reported global consumption of biofuels projected to reach 135B gal by '18 with US taking lead over Brazil.

Lignol Energy raised $2.4M to invest in Australian Renewable Fuels. ARW largest biodiesel producer in Australia. 3 plants with total capacity of 150M liters/y, built for A$150M. Revs running >A$43M last 2 Q's.

Iowa State U researchers feeding pigs, chickens dried hi-protein, food-grade fungi derived from stillage production during ethanol production. Fungi production system also cleans some of water in ethanol production so more water can be recycled.

Argentina ready to approve new Monsanto GMO soybean. Brazil already approved.

Cal Chevron refinery may be shut for 6 months from fire.

Dong Energy bought 3 major offshore N Sea projects from PNE Wind (Germany). Euro57M down on potential Euro157M.

Baghdad told Total to cancel Kurdistan deal or sell its stake in the oilfield.

BP wants $7.9B for group of GOM oilfields. 120M bls proven reserves, produced ~58Kb/d in Q1. Comp plans to sell $38B of assets by end of '13. Gulf spill wiped out ~1/3 of their market value.

Shilling says US just had 3 months in row of retail sales declines. That's happened 29 times since data collection started in '47. In 27 of them, we were in recession or within 3 months of one. He says this one should last ~1 yr and shave ~3.5% off GDP, peak to trough. Did we hit >3% GDP growth recently?

FSLR opened Bangkok office.

Ontario Power Authority issued "Small FIT" rules for solar systems 10-500KW. >200MW in contracts to be let Oct 1 to Nov 30.

There was more I had on this, but the script continued to be farked up despite how many tries describing the micro and large FITs. And Ontario's solar numbers. Is that a Microsoft-Google war or something? Happened before with Poland's FIT story days ago. Very strange.